The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal BehaviorYerkes, Robert Mearns
Science
The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior
Yerkes, Robert Mearns
Animal behavior; Dancing mice
The observations of Cyon, Zoth, and the writer establish beyond doubt the
existence of important individual differences in behavior if not of
distinct divisions within the species of mouse, and the general results of
the several anatomical investigations make it seem highly probable that
the structure of the ear, as well as the externally visible structural
features of the animals, vary widely. Unfortunately, the lack of agreement
in the descriptions of the ear given by the different students of the
subject renders impossible any certain correlation of structural and
functional facts. That the whirling and the lack of dizziness and of
hearing have their structural bases no one doubts, but whether it is in
the brain itself, in the sense organs, or in the labyrinth, our knowledge
does not permit us to say. With this statement Rawitz, Cyon, and Alexander
and Kreidl would not agree, for they believe that they have discovered
structural peculiarities which fully explain the behavior of the dancer.
Panse and Kishi, on the other hand, contend that the ear gives no
structural signs of such peculiarities as the dancing and deafness
suggest; they therefore look to the cerebellum for the seat of the
disturbance. With the same possibility in mind the author of "Fancy
Varieties of Mice" writes: "These quaint little creatures make amusing
pets for any one who is not scientific, or very fond of knowing 'the
reason why.' In their case, the reason of the peculiarity which gives them
their name is rather a sad one. It is now pretty conclusively established
that they are no more Japanese than they are of any other country in
particular, but that the originators of the breed were common fancy mice
which were suffering from a disease of the brain analogous to the 'gid' in
sheep. In the latter, the complaint is caused by a parasite in the brain;
in the case of the Waltzing Mouse, it is probably due to an hereditary
malformation therein. Be this as it may, the breed is now a firmly
established one, and the children of waltzing mice waltz like their
parents" (32 p. 45). Although it is quite possible that peculiarities in
the central nervous system, rather than in the peripheral nervous system,
may be responsible for the forms of behavior exhibited by the dancer, it
must be remembered that no such peculiarities have been revealed by the
examination of the central nervous system. The old fancier has neither
better nor worse grounds for his belief than have Panse and Kishi.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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